I just ran across a feature written by the former Prime Minister of Spain, Jose Maria Aznar for the Wall Street Journal web site (registration required) via blogdex.net.
His second paragraph makes the right point:
"Its lessons are simple. If we want to stop terrorists from murdering us and from dictating how we lead our lives, we must confront them. Some think the solution is to sue for peace, to negotiate with terrorists so that they might go and kill elsewhere. But that way is unacceptable to me and to millions of Spaniards. Terrorism deserves only to be defeated. This is the debt we owe to the victims of the attacks, and to the society that mourns them."
Just as America experienced on 9/11, the Spanish disaster showed:
"...what's most noble in the human spirit: the selflessness of those who rushed to help the wounded, to give blood, to offer their help in hospitals, or simply to listen to those who needed relief. We shall never forget the professionalism of emergency service workers. We don't know exactly how many people died trying to come to the aid of other victims, but their courage demonstrates that you can find life in the midst of carnage, and that horror and fear can give way to a determination to safeguard liberty, our most precious asset."
Mr. Aznar gives a spirited defence of how his government responded to the emergency, and then ends with this:
"It is precisely for this reason that we must not send out confusing messages, messages that induce people to believe that we have to make concessions to those demanding that we kneel before bombs. This is not the moment to think about withdrawals of troops. And much less when the terrorists, with their message of death and destruction, have demanded that we surrender. To yield now would set a dangerous precedent that would allow our attackers to believe that they have imposed their conditions on us. It would allow our attackers to believe that they have won."
May all freedom-loving people heed his words.
Posted by Dean
at 3:19 PM CST
Updated: Friday, 26 March 2004 11:08 AM CST